Grassroots activist Richard A. Viguerie talks with Bill Moyers about the past and future of American conservatism.

Richard A. Viguerie of American Target Advertising, a direct marketing advertising company, pioneered political/ideological direct mail in the 1960s and 1970s. That marriage of direct mail and politics enabled grassroots Americans to participate in the political process to a greater degree than ever before and built the conservative movement that elected President Reagan in 1980. Viguerie's effort was so important that John F. Kennedy Jr.'s magazine, GEORGE, included it on its list of the defining political moments of the 20th century. In December 1999, Lee Edwards in a WASHINGTON TIMES column listed Richard Viguerie as one of 13 "Conservatives of the Century." He is now pioneering the use of the Internet on behalf of conservative free-market politicians and organizations.

The WASHINGTON POST called him the "conservatives' Voice of America." He has been credited with forming dozens of conservative organizations and with helping them grow stronger through political action, think tanks, publications, and representation in the U.S. House and Senate, state legislatures and other levels of government.

In 1979, TIME magazine named him one of 50 future leaders of America. In 1981, PEOPLE magazine named him one of the 25 most intriguing people of the year. Scheduled for publication this coming summer is his new book, AMERICA'S RIGHT TURN: HOW THE CONSERVATIVES USED NEW AND ALTERNATIVE MEDIA TO TAKE POWER, written with David Franke. It is the first in-depth look at how direct mail, talk radio, cable TV, and the Internet have changed American politics.